Bogner red/blue or Wampler Plextortion into Marshall Artist

[Iron Dog]

Yeah, I'd rather pay a little more to be able to return something I'm not sure my amp will gel with. I have enough useless gear gathering dust in the closet

I have to admit I'm leaning towards the Red Ecstasy, I was really wanting the Uberschall pedal when it came out, but after reading some mediocre reviews and reading that it uses diode clipping as opposed to the Blue and Red Ecstasy I didn't bother, but the Red seems to be more flexible, while still being able to do the high gain thing, but we shall see

 

[Charvel1975]

Yeah, I'd rather pay a little more to be able to return something I'm not sure my amp will gel with. I have enough useless gear gathering dust in the closet

I have to admit I'm leaning towards the Red Ecstasy, I was really wanting the Uberschall pedal when it came out, but after reading some mediocre reviews and reading that it uses diode clipping as opposed to the Blue and Red Ecstasy I didn't bother, but the Red seems to be more flexible, while still being able to do the high gain thing, but we shall see

Yea that's why I posted originally about the Red Ecstasy was because of it's flexibility and that vid I found on youtube looks like it may be able to do the high gain stuff too, sounded like he was in drop D but I wonder about it in our band's drop B tuning?

 

[Iron Dog]

It should sound good, but I won't be able to help you there, I have 11 guitars all tuned to E

 

[Charvel1975]

It should sound good, but I won't be able to help you there, I have 11 guitars all tuned to E

11 guitars tuned to E!! You see how many are in my Sig. Well I guess you could play one each day different flavor a day lol!! It's all good, that's cool man yea I traded two nice guitars some years ago: a pre-lawsuit MIK Black PRS Tremonti SE and a MIK ESP LTD See-Thru Translucent Purple with natural wood binding on body Horizon and never recouped to make up for those two I traded yet although now I'm thinking of getting a 7-string for my band's stuff cause of the tuning we're in

 

[Racerxrated]

Yeah they are really nice amps, I love mine. I use a GE-7 through the loop as an EQ. Did you use the OCD as a boost or a different flavor of distortion? I experimented with using my Boss SD-1 to goose my signal and drive the amp harder which sounded like crap and I figured it wouldn't work with a solid state preamp, am I wrong?

In the OCD manual it says it use a different type of clipping (MOSFET & Germanium) instead of traditional diode clipping (I know nothing about electronics ), but that could be why it worked for you or maybe mine is just unique although now that you've mentioned it I want to try my 3203 with an OCD pedal

I had one of those 3203 heads and I ran just a boss GE7 in front for a boost. No issues, sounded great. I also turned the gain back a bit and used an OCD also in front with the eq pedal. Just ran a delay in the loop, sounded really good to me. I never had any of the issues that you've described. Nice budget Marshall, better than any DSL or 900 I've tried. A little darker maybe than a JCM but I gigged with it quite a bit..

I always use the OCD as a clean boost, eq pedal to tailor the tone more. I rarely use the gain on any of my boost pedals..since my amps are already distorted.

 

[Racerxrated]

One thing that should be mentioned is that you can use diode clipping + diode clipping..you just have to watch the levels. If you leave the gain up on the amp, then use your pedal's 'level' as a boost and keep the gain down or off. Try that with any pedal and it gives you a good baseline to start from, to see what the amp likes best. I have a KK 800, and that has a built in boost. I boost that again with my GE7 and I get a tone that's as good as any Cameron or Friedman I've had. My Jubilee, same thing. Diode clipping engaged, Fulltone level half, eq pedal mid bump. My favorite tone so far. I just sold an '87 2205, again diode clipping..and that amp loved a bad monkey in front. 30 dollar used pedal. I did have a Bogner Red a while back, but it didn't sound any better than the pedals I've already mentioned before. So I sold it fast. Maybe that pedal is for an amp that is low to mid gain? Anyway you can spend a ton on pedals..I've had Wamplers, Analogman, etc etc and really an EQ pedal is the one that I must have..because you can go low to start and push it from there, at least with a gainy amp.

 

[Charvel1975]

One thing that should be mentioned is that you can use diode clipping + diode clipping..you just have to watch the levels. If you leave the gain up on the amp, then use your pedal's 'level' as a boost and keep the gain down or off. Try that with any pedal and it gives you a good baseline to start from, to see what the amp likes best. I have a KK 800, and that has a built in boost. I boost that again with my GE7 and I get a tone that's as good as any Cameron or Friedman I've had. My Jubilee, same thing. Diode clipping engaged, Fulltone level half, eq pedal mid bump. My favorite tone so far. I just sold an '87 2205, again diode clipping..and that amp loved a bad monkey in front. 30 dollar used pedal. I did have a Bogner Red a while back, but it didn't sound any better than the pedals I've already mentioned before. So I sold it fast. Maybe that pedal is for an amp that is low to mid gain? Anyway you can spend a ton on pedals..I've had Wamplers, Analogman, etc etc and really an EQ pedal is the one that I must have..because you can go low to start and push it from there, at least with a gainy amp.

After watching Josh Wibaut's demo of the Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal, sounds like the Bogner pedal was designed to be used as a preamp ran thru clean amp or the clean channel of an amp, which was the idea I had with my Marshall artist 3203.

 

[Iron Dog]

After watching Josh Wibaut's demo of the Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal, sounds like the Bogner pedal was designed to be used as a preamp ran thru clean amp or the clean channel of an amp, which was the idea I had with my Marshall artist 3203.

Yeah 11 guitars is a bit much, but I enjoy, and I'll be adding one or two more this year You have some nice gear, by the way.

I was thinking the Bogner pedal for the same reason, my only point of concern is that reviews I've read of the Bogner pedals have said that the pedals sound best through a really good clean channel and while I'm quite happy with the clean channel on the Marshall I don't know how good it is compared to the amps they were using, but I guess I will find out. Part of me is still debating on just going the new amp route, instead of trying to turn the Marshall Artist in to something it's not and using it as is, which is still an awesome amp

Have you considered the Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier, low wattage and reviews are good. If you're looking at $300 for a pedal. A used Mini Rec goes for $500, not a whole lot more. I only used one once and either it was a bad amp/cable/cab or user error as it sounded like shit, very weak distortion, the Marshall Artist crushed it, which doesn't seem right as the Mini Rec should have way more gain on tap.

By the way I was looking up stuff on the Marshall Artist and a guy on another forum had one and had old articles about it and said that the amps 30 watts rating was very conservative and it's actually closer to 42 watts, I believe it, freaking loud little amp

 

[Charvel1975]

After watching Josh Wibaut's demo of the Bogner Ecstasy Red pedal, sounds like the Bogner pedal was designed to be used as a preamp ran thru clean amp or the clean channel of an amp, which was the idea I had with my Marshall artist 3203.

Yeah 11 guitars is a bit much, but I enjoy, and I'll be adding one or two more this year You have some nice gear, by the way.

I was thinking the Bogner pedal for the same reason, my only point of concern is that reviews I've read of the Bogner pedals have said that the pedals sound best through a really good clean channel and while I'm quite happy with the clean channel on the Marshall I don't know how good it is compared to the amps they were using, but I guess I will find out. Part of me is still debating on just going the new amp route, instead of trying to turn the Marshall Artist in to something it's not and using it as is, which is still an awesome amp

Have you considered the Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier, low wattage and reviews are good. If you're looking at $300 for a pedal. A used Mini Rec goes for $500, not a whole lot more. I only used one once and either it was a bad amp/cable/cab or user error as it sounded like shit, very weak distortion, the Marshall Artist crushed it, which doesn't seem right as the Mini Rec should have way more gain on tap.

By the way I was looking up stuff on the Marshall Artist and a guy on another forum had one and had old articles about it and said that the amps 30 watts rating was very conservative and it's actually closer to 42 watts, I believe it, freaking loud little amp

Thanks for the gear compliment yea when my Artist was working right it was freaking LOUD!! I've been researching the Jet City JCA50H tube head

 

[Iron Dog]

Nice, personally I'm avoiding any music gear made in China, but that's me.

 

[Charvel1975]

Nice, personally I'm avoiding any music gear made in China, but that's me.

I know what your saying about the made in China thang, I've already read a couple reviews of the new Randall Diavlo series where people have already had theirs new D.O.A. but the Jet City amps I've seen people just recommending to change the tubes as soon as you get one that the build quality and the QC is pretty high

 

[Charvel1975]

Well it's definitely off to Manny at Guitar N' Amp Doctor in Canton, OH.. Just tried playing thru the artist and it was fine for about 5 minutes and then volume went out

 

[Iron Dog]

I've heard the JC guys are right on top of the QC. The QC thing is part of it, part of it is not wanting to support the whole Communist BS, and I'm fortunate to be in a financial situation where I can afford to avoid the Made in China route. I'm not trying to dissuade you, just my personal feelings.

I'm headed to Phoenix AZ in early March to meet up with my folks who are vacationing down there and plan on doing serious gear shopping and am hoping to find a good used amp, I'd really like to try a Hughes & Kettner Coreblade and some Engl's, along with the myriad of amps that get mentioned on here regularly.

I don't know what the used gear market is like in Ohio (out here it's all cheap crap or super pricey vintage/Gibson/PRS stuff), but you might want to keep an eye out for a Genz Benz El Diablo either the 60 or 100. I've real a lot about them and they seem very underrated (which makes them cheap to buy), they can run at half power. I was looking at them as my guitar teacher was/is selling his Genz Benz El Diablo 60, but he's been flaky and I'm not chasing him down. If the head is built anything like the Genz Benz El Diablo cab I own, than it's top notch and built like a tank, just something to consider. The 50 watt EVH 5150III may also be worth considering, especially if you only need one or two channels.

Let me know what you go with.

 

[Iron Dog]

Well it's definitely off to Manny at Guitar N' Amp Doctor in Canton, OH.. Just tried playing thru the artist and it was fine for about 5 minutes and then volume went out

That sucks, hopefully a cheap and easy fix

 

[Iron Dog]

Hey bud, I thought I'd let you know I tried the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal today. It sounds good and the controls and toggles all make a noticeable and musical difference, in the end it still sounds like a pedal and doesn't have the fullness of good amp distortion, It's not what I'm looking for, which for me is going to be an all-tube high-gain tube amp.

Best of luck in your search.

 

[Charvel1975]

Hey bud, I thought I'd let you know I tried the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal today. It sounds good and the controls and toggles all make a noticeable and musical difference, in the end it still sounds like a pedal and doesn't have the fullness of good amp distortion, It's not what I'm looking for, which for me is going to be an all-tube high-gain tube amp.

Best of luck in your search.

Hey man! That's cool at least you tried the Bogner pedal out! I e-mailed my tech and still haven't heard from him yet on taking my Marshall Artist & Peavey 6505+ head down to him. I think I'm just going to keep the Artist for backup and I think I'm just going to get a Jet City JCA50H head, I started a thread on it over here:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/...et-city-jca50h-vs-jca22h-100h-100HDM-amp-head

 

[Iron Dog]

Cool. let me know what you go with. I went in the opposite direction and bought another guitar today

New amp is next on the list.

 

[Charvel1975]

Cool. let me know what you go with. I went in the opposite direction and bought another guitar today

New amp is next on the list.

Well couple hours ago, dropped off my Marshall Artist 3203 & Peavey 6505+ heads to my tech waiting to see what his report is...

 

[Charvel1975]

One thing that should be mentioned is that you can use diode clipping + diode clipping..you just have to watch the levels. If you leave the gain up on the amp, then use your pedal's 'level' as a boost and keep the gain down or off. Try that with any pedal and it gives you a good baseline to start from, to see what the amp likes best. I have a KK 800, and that has a built in boost. I boost that again with my GE7 and I get a tone that's as good as any Cameron or Friedman I've had. My Jubilee, same thing. Diode clipping engaged, Fulltone level half, eq pedal mid bump. My favorite tone so far. I just sold an '87 2205, again diode clipping..and that amp loved a bad monkey in front. 30 dollar used pedal. I did have a Bogner Red a while back, but it didn't sound any better than the pedals I've already mentioned before. So I sold it fast. Maybe that pedal is for an amp that is low to mid gain? Anyway you can spend a ton on pedals..I've had Wamplers, Analogman, etc etc and really an EQ pedal is the one that I must have..because you can go low to start and push it from there, at least with a gainy amp.

So once I get my Artist 3203 back from the tech, I seen there is someone selling a used Fulltone OCD locally by me for $90 used only four times, and it's been secure in its box when unused. But he posted the ad on Jan. 20th so who knows if he still has it? Is the Fulltone OCD is a good boost for the Artist? Would getting a Fulltone OCD & a Boss GE-7 and running my Boss NS-2 through the front be able to get me a good modern metal tone?

 

[Charvel1975]

Hey bud, I thought I'd let you know I tried the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal today. It sounds good and the controls and toggles all make a noticeable and musical difference, in the end it still sounds like a pedal and doesn't have the fullness of good amp distortion, It's not what I'm looking for, which for me is going to be an all-tube high-gain tube amp.

Best of luck in your search.

Hey Iron Dog I forgot to ask ya when you had the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal did you try running it to the Effects Loop Return - using the Bogner Red as preamp and using the tube power section of the Marshall Artist3203?